I've been studying Japanese on my own for the past three months and I'm currently really confused about the difference between koto and -te iru. In english, adding -ing can do two things, making the present participle which makes the verb an adjective or the present progressive when used with a form of the word to be meaning you are doing it right now, and it can also make a gerund which makes a verb a noun. Here are some examples, how would you translate them into japanese:

Present participle:
There is a talking horse.
There was a talking horse.

Gerund:
I am running.

I'm just confused on in which cases you would use koto or -te iru. For example which would be correct:

sushi o taberu koto suki desu.
sushi o tabete imasu suki desu.

Also, what does the -te form of iru do? Thank you for all the help, I apologize if this question is too complicated, all of you guys are such experts .

Last edited by roomwithamoose on Thu 09.01.2005 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

as harisenbon has said, the koto sentence is correct. remember as a rule of thumb that verbs tend to go at the end of sentences, hence hashite imasu, i am running, is correct.
"sushi o tabete imasu suki desu" doesnt seem correct at all since the verb is in the center of the sentence (i know in complex sentences verbs tend appear to be in the middle, but broken down, verbs nearly always go to the end) also, your stacking imasu with desu in that sentence which is a big no no.

I think I'm starting to understand. I just don't understand why it would be sushi o taberu koto, doesn't eating become an adverb as to describe what you do to the sushi, and not a noun? Although I do understand how -teiru is incorrect in that situation. In that case, to say there was a talking horse one would say, uwa o hanasu koto imashita. Correct? Thanks a ton everyone!

"sushi o tabete imasu suki desu" doesnt seem correct at all since the verb is in the center of the sentence (i know in complex sentences verbs tend appear to be in the middle, but broken down, verbs nearly always go to the end) also, your stacking imasu with desu in that sentence which is a big no no.

You underestimate Harisenbon here! It's not 'sushi o tabete imasu suki desu', it's 'sushi *to* taberukoto ga suki desu' as in 'I like sushi and eating'. His example shows how to make a verb act like a noun (i.e. 食べること).

Kates, thanks for the correction. Complex kanji + small font = *Bah, it must be the right one!*

...not always T_T

I think there is confusion because in english 'v-ing' form has multiple use (I'm eating, there is a talking dog, etc.)
Would it be correct to say that in Japanese 'v-te form + iru/imasu' is equivalent to English's present progressive and that the parallel between both languages' verb form stop there, even if obviously both languages can use that verb form to mean other things.

Last edited by aoeuaoeuaoeu on Fri 09.02.2005 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ok so currently I understand that ている is equivelent to the English present progressive and that こと is equivelent to an english gerund, usually this is required if a verb in japanese isn't at the end of the sentance. The only thing unclear to me is how to make a present participle, another words, a verb an adjective. Would you just follow Harisenbon's method of used the particle と with the noun and the verb + こと? ありがと ございます！